Doom Painting
Will be published approx. on 24. September 2026
Book
Hardback
672 pages
978-1-80351-273-0 (ISBN)
Description
The sixteen days of the Peasant's Revolt, when new versions of England were born under the charismatic leader Wat Tyler, brought to life in a dazzlingly inventive novel by the author of The Manningtree Witches.
It is 1381. England, reeling from plague and years of conflict abroad, is a tinderbox waiting to spark. Two childhood friends ride into the town of Brentwood, Essex, where they come upon an altercation with a local Justice bent on squeezing more coin from the masses. Thus begins a rebellion of the common folk - loyal to the king, but not to those wealthy landowners who curtail their freedoms; the multitude finding cause against the powers that threaten their livelihoods.
Set over sixteen days, Doom Painting roves across England as the revolt grows and swells and the rebels march to London to take their demands to the child-king Richard II. Out of the rebellion emerges its enigmatic and charismatic leader Wat Tyler, an opportunistic and mercurial rogue whose morality is birthed by the cause, and who shapes an identity for the English which has never been lost.
A. K. Blakemore's thrilling retelling of the Peasants' Revolt renders it a definitive moment in British history. In the meeting of peasantry and nobility, new versions of England are born, and - for one bloody summer - the people of England seize control.
It is 1381. England, reeling from plague and years of conflict abroad, is a tinderbox waiting to spark. Two childhood friends ride into the town of Brentwood, Essex, where they come upon an altercation with a local Justice bent on squeezing more coin from the masses. Thus begins a rebellion of the common folk - loyal to the king, but not to those wealthy landowners who curtail their freedoms; the multitude finding cause against the powers that threaten their livelihoods.
Set over sixteen days, Doom Painting roves across England as the revolt grows and swells and the rebels march to London to take their demands to the child-king Richard II. Out of the rebellion emerges its enigmatic and charismatic leader Wat Tyler, an opportunistic and mercurial rogue whose morality is birthed by the cause, and who shapes an identity for the English which has never been lost.
A. K. Blakemore's thrilling retelling of the Peasants' Revolt renders it a definitive moment in British history. In the meeting of peasantry and nobility, new versions of England are born, and - for one bloody summer - the people of England seize control.
Reviews / Votes
Exquisite and urgent, Doom Painting is so much more than historical fiction. It captures within its pages both the rebelliousness of the fourteenth century and the urgent spirit of our Age... An exceptional work that everyone should read, no matter whether they consider themselves more entranced by England's past or ambitious for its future -- Annie Garthwaite * author of The King's Mother * Truly astonishing. Blakemore has the rare gift of capturing the beating heart of events centuries past in all their complexity and unruliness, not for a second taking an eye off the tender, the human, the exquisite. Every page buzzes with the life of it -- Rebecca Perry An enormous achievement. A. K. Blakemore has taken a trip back to 1381 and shown us all England from the lowest peasant grubbing in the mud to the young and hapless monarch in all his fumbling insecurity... A novel so dark, so full, so brave, so brimming with life (and death) and love and pain that I found myself often putting it down just to wonder at this enormous thing, at all these lives... A big bold, brilliant, brutal, beautiful masterpiece -- Edward Carey A.K. Blakemore is developing a reputation for turning bizarre historical events into beautiful novels... Her latest is set during the Peasants' Revolt, and looks to be whip-smart and poetic at once * Telegraph * Playful, violent, bloody and funny, Doom Painting makes poetry of England's great medieval peasant rebellion. As strange and wonderful as The Glutton, this book confirms AK Blakemore as one of the most original writers of historical fiction at work today -- Dan Jones Incredible. Blakemore turns the distant past into something gut-twistingly human, sexy and alive -- Alex Hyde AK Blakemore's talent is munificent, her language is munificent, and this novel is utterly munificent. Doom Painting is, undoubtedly, one of the best historical novels written in the last ten years -- Oisin Fagan A thrilling retelling which brings the medieval world dazzlingly to life. This is historical fiction as it should be written. A triumph! -- Alice LoxtonMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80351-273-0 (9781803512730)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
A.K.Blakemore's The Manningtree Witches (Granta, 2021), won the Desmond Elliott Prize, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, and was a Waterstones Book of the Month. Her second novel The Glutton (Granta, 2023) was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. She is the author of two full-length collections of poetry, Humbert Summer and Fondue, which was awarded the 2019 Ledbury Forte Prize for Best Second Collection, and has also translated the work of Sichuanese poet Yu Yoyo. Her poetry and prose has appeared in the London Review of Books, Poetry, the Poetry Review and the White Review, among other publications.